Aung San Suu Kyi and the power of unity

By Jack Healey and Dan Adler, Special to CNN

Updated 2:53 PM ET, Tue October 2, 2012

Photos: Suu Kyi through the years24 photos

Suu Kyi through the years – Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi was presented with a U.S. Congressional Gold Medal at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, September 19. She is known worldwide for her leadership and commitment to human rights in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. The opposition leader and pro-democracy campaigner was kept under house arrest for years by the Asian country's military rulers. Take a look back at her triumphs and struggles:

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi, center, receives the Congressional Gold Medal. She is flanked by (from left) House Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, right, stand with her.

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Suu Kyi through the years – A large cutout of the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Suu Kyi is on display on Wednesday.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, September 18, in Clinton's office at the State Department in Washington. It was her first visit to the U.S. in 20 years.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi greets her supporters as she visits a recently flooded area in Pathein township, the capital city of the Irrawaddy division, on September 1. Heavy monsoon rains in Myanmar forced tens of thousands of people to seek shelter in emergency camps.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi speaks during a regular session at the lower house of parliament in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, on July 25. Suu Kyi called for laws to protect the rights of the nation's myriad ethnic minorities in her inaugural address to the fledgling parliament.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi sits in the lower house parliament session in Naypyidaw on July 10.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi prays in honor of her late father, independence hero Gen. Aung San, during a ceremony to mark the country's 65th anniversary of Martyrs' Day at the Martyrs' Mausoleum in Yangon, Myanmar, on July 19. The memorial is a tribute to Aung San and several other independence leaders who were killed on July 19, 1947.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi stands to address both houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall, London, on June 21 as Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, right, and Speaker of the House of Lords Baroness D'Souza stand beside her. Suu Kyi made a historic address to both houses of the British Parliament, making her only the fifth foreign dignitary since World War II to be accorded the rare honor.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi speaks during a Nobel lecture at Oslo City Hall on June 16 in Oslo, Norway. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 1991 but had not been able to receive it until now because she was kept under house arrest for most of the past 24 years.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi visits the Mae La refugee camp on June 2 in the western province of Tak, Thailand. The camp, situated along the Myanmar-Thailand border, is home to around 45,000 Karen people, an ethnic minority in Myanmar.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi leaves the Suvarnabhumi International airport on her first international trip in 24 years outside Myanmar on May 29 in Bangkok, Thailand.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi waves to Burmese workers on a trip to a migrant community outside of Bangkok on May 30 in Samut Sakhon, Thailand. Suu Kyi pledged to help improve the rights of Burmese nationals living in Thailand.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi speaks at the National League for Democracy party headquarters after after a landslide victory for a seat in the parliament on April 2 in Yangon. The NLD claimed 43 out of 44 parliamentary seats as the country continues its path of political and diplomatic reform.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi is surrounded by media as she visits polling stations in her constituency during the parliamentary elections on April 1, in Kaw Hmu, Myanmar.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi and Secreatary of State Hillary Clinton stand together during a news conference after their meeting at her residence in Yangon on December 2, 2011, where they laid out a framework for reforms.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi speaks in Yangon during a meeting to mark Human RIghts Day on December 10, 2010.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi addresses thousands of her supporters at her National League for Democracy headquarters on November 14, 2010.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi greets crowds of well-wishers at the gate of her house after her release from house arrest, on November 13, 2010, in Yangon.

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Suu Kyi through the years – U.S. President George W. Bush signs H.R. 4286, which gave the Congressional Gold Medal in absentia to Suu Kyi, in the Oval Office of the White House on May 6, 2008. From left : California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley of New York, first lady Laura Bush and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi listens to a question during a news conference after being freed from 19 months under house arrest May 6, 2002, making a triumphant return to her party's headquarters in Yangon. A year later, her motorcade was attacked by a pro-government mob, and she was placed under house arrest again.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi's son, Alexander Aris, left, accepts America's highest civilian honor from U.S. President Bill Clinton on his mother's behalf on December 6, 2000, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi addresses hundreds of anxious Burmese supporters from the main gate of her family compound in Yangon on July 14, 1995.

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Suu Kyi through the years – Suu Kyi speaks in Yangon during an anti-military regime rally on August 26, 1988.

Story highlights

Suu Kyi is addressing ethnic divisions in Burma, challenging world leaders to be responsible

Writers' online campaign for Suu Kyi united people from all political sides, famous and not

They say in divisive times, it's worth noting power of unity in service of democratic ideals

It may be one of the greatest victory laps of our time: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's political heroine, is touring the United States, offering proof everywhere she goes -- from the White House to the Capitol rotunda, from Columbia University to Hollywood, from the U.N. to CNN -- that she is indeed "the Lady."

In Oslo in June, she was able to give her acceptance speech, overdue by 21 years, for the Nobel Peace Prize she had been awarded when she was under house arrest in Burma. In the U.S., she's been able to receive the Congressional Gold Medal -- our highest honor -- she'd been awarded years ago; she was able to meet with the president, to sit with the U.N.'s secretary general and to meet many of the people who fought so hard to tell the world what the former military dictatorship was doing to her and to the Burmese people.

This week, she will visit Los Angeles, meeting with local Burmese and sitting down to dinner with members of the Hollywood community. And if one message rings through in all of her appearances, it is the strength of nonviolent reconciliation, the power of democratic ideals to triumph and what it really means to be willing to stand up for what one believes, whatever the cost.

It was Suu Kyi's nonviolent campaign against one of the most oppressive, dictatorial regimes of our times that gave hope to the oppressed Burmese people and to thousands of Buddhist monks, as she inspired politicians and leaders around the globe.

Jack Healey

Dan Adler

It was the strength of her spirit, the patience of her approach and the profound beauty of her soul. It was the message that one democratically elected ruler could withstand nearly 20 years of house arrest, could live with the memory of her father's assassination, could overcome the separation from her cancer-stricken husband whom she was not allowed to visit on his deathbed and could galvanize a movement of monks and a nation of people to rise up and take back their country.

Now, Suu Kyi is using her international visibility to address ethnic divisions in Burma and to challenge the rest of the globe to behave more responsibly, even as she forgives the very military leaders who kept her under house arrest for the better part of two decades. The nation is also called Myanmar, but Suu Kyi refuses to use that name because it was changed by the military junta.

So what does it mean for us, in America, during a polarizing election that seems to be bringing out the worst in all of us? Rhetoric, sound bites, culture wars and catchphrases are replacing substance, thoughtfulness and informed debate. And in the middle of it all, Hollywood, as usual, is manipulated by each side to demonize the other.

It wasn't so long ago, though, when our cultural leaders helped stand up and stand in for the most important voices of their day, raising issues all of us need to take more seriously. And, in fact, that's precisely what happened with Burma.

Just a few years ago, before most of us ever heard of Burma, before we could pronounce Aung San Suu Kyi's name and before we watched in horror as Cyclone Nargis ravaged its shores in 2008, a group of us from the creative and human rights communities banded together to raise our voices around what was happening to Suu Kyi and the Burmese.

We were able to pull together, left and right, young and old, Democrats and Republicans, Americans and foreigners, straights and gays, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and atheists. All in a common cause of celebrating the voice of the people, the power of democracy and one remarkable woman. Called "Burma: It Can't Wait," it was an online video campaign featuring 38 spots to publicize what was happening in Myanmar and happening to Suu Kyi. The campaign has received about 25 million views.

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Aung San Suu Kyi embarrassed by accolade

What compelled nearly 100 of the industry's most creative and committed people -- in front of and behind the camera -- to rally together to produce an award-winning online video campaign? What led Shepard Fairey to create another of his iconic images, inspired the likes of Jim Carrey and Anjelica Huston to speak out and celebrities to travel to the Burmese border to show their support for the refugees?

And, in another example of what people united by a common cause can do, what inspired 27 of the world's most popular musical artists to contribute tracks in 2004 to an album called "For the Lady"?

One remarkable person. If you want to see why, read some of Suu Kyi's remarkable writings. "Freedom from Fear," published by Penguin, provides a great collection of them.

In these hyperpartisan times, as approval ratings for Congress reach record lows, as our public discourse focuses on name-calling and our media oversimplify the most complex issues, it's refreshing to remember that many people were able to come together, from across a broad spectrum, to support a woman who had inspired Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, Laura Bush, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair to rally to her defense.

In a nation seemingly torn apart by divisiveness and conflict, on the eve of our presidential election, all of us should join together to champion the democratic traditions we cherish and to celebrate that much more that brings us together than divides us. As we enjoy Suu Kyi's tour of the United States, may we be reminded of the strength of her spirit and the power of unity of purpose in service of our ideals.